集神州三寶感通錄 1.14

1.14

Fifth, the ancient stūpa south of Mount Qi in Fufeng: It is on a plateau, low to the south and high to the north. Ten li east is the Wuting Stream, twenty li west is Qishan County, thirty li south is the Wei River, and twenty li north is Mount Qi, also named Ma'e. This mountain is identical to Mount Qi. These are all to the north of the great mountain; to the south are smaller mountains lined up east and west, with a large valley in between, separating the south and north. Therefore it is called Mount Qi ('forked mountain'), qi meaning divided. Over twenty li to the northwest is Fengquan ('Phoenix Spring'). The spring is on the south side of Mount Qi, extremely high and prominent; this is the very place where in the time of King Wen of the Zhou, a phoenix called on Mount Qi. Drinking this spring's water, it was therefore named Phoenix Spring. It also flew south to the north side of Zhongnan; hence south of the Wei below the mountains there is also a Phoenix Spring. It also flew southwest across the mountains to Hechi; this is what is now called Fengzhou, the ancient Hechi Commandery. One cannot exhaustively trace the beginning and end of the phoenix; let us discuss the origins of establishing the stūpa. Thus Emperor Gaozu of the Sui admired its ground and spring, and thereupon established a stūpa there. Overlooking the vast vista, it is truly open and remote. The temple's name has long been abandoned; the assembly of monks has passed away; people and things are utterly scarce, and the stūpa was about to collapse. I went to view it: brambles and brush filled the place. Although it lacked the reality of [the ruined palace in] 'Shuli', it stirred the deep sorrow of 'Shuli'. Today the stūpa on the plateau is colloquially called King Aśoka Temple. The township is called Liuquan, taking the ancient name of its northern mountain. Before the Zhou and Wei, the temple was named King Aśoka, with five hundred monks. When the Zhou suppressed the Dharma, of the corridors, eaves, and exterior terraces, only two halls alone survived. The Sui dynasty re-established it, naming it Chengshi Temple. In the fifth year of Daye, temples with fewer than fifty monks were abolished; this temple was consequently abolished and merged into Baochang Temple in the capital. The ancient site of its stūpa remained an estate of the temple. At the very beginning of the Tang's fortunes, in the second year of Yining, the monk Puxian of Baochang Temple lamented that the temple was abolished and submerged in weeds, and submitted a detailed memorial requesting [its restoration]. At that time, it specially received the attention of the Grand Chancellor, who had visited there in the past; reviewing the memorial with delight, he recounted the original cause, saying it could be named Famen Temple. From then until the second year of Wude, Xue Ju raised troops intending to campaign south, and Taizong led an army to attack him. Initially eighty monks were ordained, but had not yet taken up residence in a temple. The monk Huisu of Baochang Temple swept and cleaned Phoenix Spring; since the monks were not yet assigned, he memorialized requesting to reside at Famen. He was granted an imperial decree assenting to the request, and they all took up residence there. With the passage of many years, they have almost all passed away. The temple was located inside an isolated fortress. Inquiring into its origin, it was said: In the late years of Daye, bandits arose on all sides; the townships on the plateau had no way to keep themselves safe, so they built this fortress together to defend against foreign marauders. In early Tang, people lived together promiscuously and could not move out. Spreading fire burned it down, and everything was completely lost. Only the scorched and blackened remains of the two halls still survived. In the fifth year of Zhenguan, Zhang Liang, Prefect of Qizhou, who had always been devoted, came to the temple to worship. Seeing only ancient foundations without any covering above, he memorialized,